The Congress Presidency problem can be solved using the Udupi Monastery formula

According to recent reports, the race to Presidency in Congress Party has become a heated topic of discussion these days. Its no secret that many people don't trust the existing Gandhi family members to provide vision and leadership to the party. But the problem is that who will be the new leader and Party President?


There are too many contestants in the race including Capt. Amarinder Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot and Siddaramaiah and awarding the Presidency to any one of them can create internal strife and tensions among factions which might even break the party. So, its a catch-22 situation. Its widely believed that its only for this reason that the Gandhi family is still holding the reins of the party. This way, at least they all form a common ground for coordination and the party umbrella still holds.

But this situation cannot continue forever otherwise it'll break the organization from inside and also send a wrong message to the country. Eventually, the party will have to select a leader, a Party President but the problem is that who he/she will be?

This is where the Congress party can take a leaf out of Udupi Sri Krishna Matha (or Monastery). The monastery was founded by the Vaishnavite saint, Sri Madhwacharya in the 13th century and a similar situation had prevailed then (when it came to decide who among his eight students will head the monastery after him). It has been known throughout history that head priests held a lot of power in the hindu religious sects, be it Vaishnavites or Shaivites, be it followers of Dwaita or Advaita, etc. Its obvious that nobody will let go of the opportunity to hold such a powerful position and there'll be fights for it.

To solve this problem, Sri Madhwacharya devised a very clever plan. The Udupi monastery was divided into eight sub monasteries, each one headed by one of the eight students! As for who among them will head the entire monastery as a whole, it was decided that each of them will take turns every two years. While many other monasteries in India either became irrelevant or just stopped existing due to factionism and succession wars, the Udupi Sri Krishna Matha still holds strong because of this peculiar arrangement!

The Congress Party can use a similar formula to decide on the question of party President. Maybe Capt. Amarinder will be President for one term, Shashi Tharoor could be next, etc. This way, all will be happy and the party can survive and continue under one umbrella.

Comments